That Empty Cruel Place
by Liza Taylor
Summary: To stop herself from being deleted and to see him again, Hakuno chooses a path that cannot be forgiven. One-shot. ArcherXfemale Hakuno Kishinami with a little NeroXmale Hakuno Kishinami


**Shout out to asakuraqiyuzaki on twitter for putting the plot bunny in my head. Just a quick one-shot for the idea of what if Archer Emiya was Beserker-class.  
**

* * *

 _I don't want to die here._

Hakuno smacked her fists into the ground, the wall before her signaling the end of the round. The victor was on the other side, someone so similar to her and yet not. It wasn't far, it wasn't fair! She had come so far and yet nothing. All those battles, all those challenges she faced and here is where it would end?

"Master."

She glanced over to her right. Her red-clad servant pulled himself to her side. Despite everything, despite all of the damage he had taken, his first thought was to check on her.

"Archer…" She reached out, but her hand passed through his. Was he disappearing, or was she? Did it really matter in the moment? "Archer…please don't go."

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry Ma-Hakuno." He tried to wipe a tear from her eye, but his hand passed through her. "Don't cry."

How could she not? How could she not cry now? They had worked so hard and yet this was it? This was the end? She looked up and saw the Master and Servant that had defeated them, watching them with pity. The Master that looked so similar to her and the red and white clad servant that called him Master.

She didn't want that! She wanted to be the one there! She did not want to die here.

"I'm sorry…"

Her attention diverted back to her servant just in time to see him fade away, S.E.R.A.P.H. completing its job.

No. No. No.

She could feel her own body starting to get lighter. She, herself was fading.

No.

"I don't want to die," she whispered. "Why do I have to die?" A guttural scream escaped her mouth. A scream that protested everything this damn virtual world stood for. This damn, cursed world. This world that gave her love and then ripped him away from her. This damn world that made him fight to protect her.

A thought crossed her mind, an inkling of an idea.

Her body was still her own for a little more time. Instead of lamenting like many Masters did on their deathbed, she tapped into the hacking ability she had lifted from an opponent in an earlier round.

A quick command and her aching, wrecked body transported to the closest arena to her own.

The Master that had won this battle looked at her in surprise, probably not expecting someone else to appear in his space. Before the Servant could intervene, she grabbed the Master's arm and hacked again, transporting them to a small enclosed space.

S.E.R.A.P.H. tore at the edges of her body, protesting what she was doing. She was not allowed to move on, she was not allowed to live any longer.

Ignore it. Keep pushing on. Like she did when she was going to die during the preliminaries. She just kept pushing on, ignoring the fate that should have been handed to her then.

The Master was yelling something, but she could barely hear the words over the sound of S.E.R.A.P.H.'s torment.

Would this crazy idea of hers work? She had no idea but she knew she had to try. There was nothing left to lose. _He_ was gone. And this might be some way to see him again.

With S.E.R.A.P.H. gnawing at her and the screams of the Master in her ears, she worked. Her hacking was crude, nothing like what some of the other Masters in the war had displayed but hers worked. In the back of her mind she could see information S.E.R.A.P.H. threw at her due to the connection in the moment.

Ah. That explained what she was.

Ah, that explained what the one that looked like her was.

Ah, that was the truth of this twisted virtual world.

The pain subsided somewhat and Hakuno took a step back to admire the handiwork on the back of her hand. The new set of command seals were bright red against her skin. The Master she had taken it from was still as he was eaten by S.E.R.A.P.H.. One without command seals could not be a Master after all.

She turned away from the body before the guilt could eat her. Although she no longer felt the excruciating pain from S.E.R.A.P.H. her body ached and throbbed. And a quick look told her she had not come out unscathed. Parts of her body was tainted by black and purple. She poked her tainted thigh but could not feel the pressure of her touch.

She truly was a ghost now wasn't she? No, it would all be worth it.

Hakuno pressed her fist to her chest. "Archer?" she whispered. "Archer? Are you there?"

Nothing. No servant came running to her side.

Oh that was right, she had sealed the space upon her arrival so the Master's servant would not be able to follow. A quick code erased it and she called again. "Archer?"

She felt the familiar tug and before her appeared her servant. "Archer…" Her elation turned to one of horror.

Yes, her servant stood before her, but like her, he had the black and purple taint adorning parts of his body. His expression is what threw her off guard. It was not the man she knew. It was not the person that would pat her on the head and tell her she did a good job or the one that would jump into a fight to protect her. Or the one that would chastise her when things went wrong.

His eyes were dark and feral. A low growl emanated from his throat.

"Archer?" She reached out with a shaky hand and cupped his cheek. He did not move from her touch, but those eyes did not snap back. He did not reach for her and his eyes did not convey the love he had shown her in the past.

The command seals.

She looked down at the seals. The Master was one of a berserker servant? She covered her face with her hands. "Archer, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

Another growl from him.

She lifted her hand and looked up at her Servant. She grabbed his hand and rested it on top of her head. If she closed her eyes she could pretend to hear him cheering her on. "We cannot rest now Archer. If _they_ win then it's all over. They will gain control of the S.E.R.A.P.H." And _they_ would not let either of them live. She knew as she would do the same in their place.

* * *

She could see it in their expressions. The horror and revulsion. The Master and Servant that should have been defeated a week ago, back to fight them.

Hakuno pointed at the Servant before a pointless conversation could start. "Archer. Kill her."

Archer roared and charged towards the Servant.

"Why are you alive?" asked the Master who looked like her. "I saw you…" His attention was halved. He was trying to keep an eye on his Servant and yet also keep an eye on the approaching Hakuno.

"I didn't want to die," replied Hakuno. "And if you go on, I know you will get rid of us when you are admin." The tears would fall if they could but that was probably damaged in the deletion by S.E.R.A.P.H. earlier.

He tried to code cast but Hakuno blocked it with a bit of hacking.

"Praetor!" His Servant tried to go to her Master's aid but Archer blocked her path.

Hakuno stopped in front of the boy, the mirror-self. "I'm sorry," she said with a small smile before she activated the trap under his feet. He managed to jump out of the way but like she thought he jumped towards her, right into the waiting knife she had hidden in her sleeve.

"I'm sorry," she whispered again as she backed up a step.

"PRAETOR!"

The anguish in his Servant's words told her all she needed to know. The feeling was mutual for them as well. In that case, she could not allow him to become like her.

"Archer, keep her away from here. Don't let her near me."

Archer roared and kept up his flurry of blows against the Saber Servant.

Hakuno kneeled next to the Master and ran a few hacking programs. "I'm sorry," she said to him. "But I cannot have you come back like me."

He opened his mouth to protest but the light faded from his eyes and his body slowly faded as S.E.R.A.P.H. claimed it and in turn claimed the Servant that was his.

"Archer, you're hurt." His arm was obviously broken, and blood poured from the injuries he had gotten from Saber.

A growl emanated from his throat but no other response as she gently touched his arm.

"You can't feel this can you?" she whispered. "Don't worry, I'll make it better right now." A quick code cast later, the injuries were gone and her Servant to back to fighting shape. "There, don't you feel better now?"

A growl. His twin blades hung limply from his arms.

"Yes, you feel better, now don't you? Why don't you sit down right here."

He obeyed the request and the blades clattered to the ground. Hakuno sat next to him and rested her head on his shoulder. Apparently that side of her face was corrupted as she could not feel his shoulder against her cheek.

"I think we're the last ones Archer. We're the last Master and Servant pair. S.E.R.A.P.H. won't accept us as the winners though. We can only stay here."

She could hear him growling.

She rubbed her eyes but there were no tears there.

There could never be tears in them now.


End file.
